The Warhawks earned the right to advance after defeating Franklin College 41-14 Saturday at Perkins Stadium. The team’s latest win extends its record-setting winning streak to 42 games.

Franklin runs a heavy pass offense often lining up with four or five receivers, but now the ’Hawks will face the triple-option attack of Salisbury University at noon Saturday at home.

Franklin’s quarterback Jonny West threw the ball 48 times last weekend, while Salisbury as a team threw less than 10 passes on the way to putting up 49 points in its triple overtime win over Kean University.

Saturday was the ’Hawks second time playing the Grizzlies this season and the team capitalized on three turnovers, scoring 17 points.  The only two losses for Franklin this year were to Whitewater.

On Franklin’s third possession, a West fumble on second and 10 made it third and 23, but a second fumble, forced by junior Noah Timm, was recovered at the 16-yard line by senior Greg Arnold.

The ’Hawks would capitalize 39 seconds later after a pair of 8-yard Levell Coppage runs to make it 7-0 with 6:50 left in the first quarter.

The Grizzlies saw their next possession end with another turnover. It was Arnold again, this time with an interception at the Whitewater 34-yard line. The ’Hawks scored again with 13:21 remaining in the second quarter to make it 14-0.

Coppage scored on a 6-yard run after a 31-yard burst and gained 48 of the 66 yards gained by the offense on that drive.

The ’Hawks would score again this time through the air. Senior Matt Blanchard threw a 21-yard pass to junior Tyler Huber, which set up a 43-yard touchdown pass to senior Cory Robinson.

On the Grizzlies next possession, their offense finally put together a successful drive. They drove to the UW-Whitewater two-yard line, but the ’Hawks defense held them to three plays but went for it on fourth down again and saw West finish the drive on a quarterback keeper to make it 21-7 with 6:24 left in the first half.

Coppage carried the load on the next possession this time gaining 48 of the 56 yards on the drive and scoring on a 27-yard run. He finished the day with 221 yards and three touchdowns.

The Grizzlies responded 10 plays later, all passes, and capped a 62-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone from West to Keith Cunningham. They went into halftime down 28-14.

Arnold picked up his third turnover of the game in the form of a West interception. He finished the game with four tackles, two picks and a fumble recovery.

The defense as whole played outstanding as it kept Franklin to 204 yards of total offense off of 77 plays. The Grizzlies picked up 209 yards through the air, but finished the game with minus five yards rushing. They went into halftime with 202 yards and only gained two yards the final two quarters.

“One thing we pride ourselves on defense is to make offenses be one-dimensional and to make sure that nobody can run the ball on this defense,” Arnold said. “For Salisbury, their offense is similar to Oshkosh so I think that experience will help us, but whatever they run we will be ready for them.”

Franklin head coach Mike Leonard said he gave all the credit to head coach Lance Leipold and his staff on a great game.

“We aspire to be where UW-Whitewater has been and will go and that’s a national championship,” Leonard said. “I like playing guys I can respect and when you play Whitewater, they’re well coached and classy.”